


From friendship to more (a happy ending)

by ChocoNut



Series: Modern JB love [32]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:28:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25486261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChocoNut/pseuds/ChocoNut
Summary: Brienne has very little patience with love stories, and Jaime begs to disagree, every movie night ending up in an debate between them.Until one day, things end differently...
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Series: Modern JB love [32]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1557871
Comments: 25
Kudos: 105





	From friendship to more (a happy ending)

**Author's Note:**

> More fluff. Thank you for reading :)

Brienne had very little patience with love stories, particularly the ones which involved both sides of the couple falling for each other, but not realizing it until the very end.

 _Pretty Woman_ happened to be the first time Jaime had stumbled upon how tedious watching a fluff-flick with her could turn out to be. “Look at him,” she kept saying, every time Edward smiled at Vivian. “He loves her. It’s in his eyes, loud and clear--”

“He doesn’t realize it yet,” Jaime explained, translating the hero’s emotions while reflecting on how closely they mirrored his own. “He--”

“--is an idiot.” They had come upon the scene where Vivian confessed her love, thinking Edward was asleep. “She has the courage to confess--”

“--when she thinks he’s asleep. That’s _not_ courage--”

“Whereas he--”

“--is confused.” he frowned, unsure whether he was defending himself or the hero. “Dealing with his inner conflict, probably.”

“Nonsense! They’re clearly head over heels for each other. If only they could just spill it out--”

“It’s not that simple, Brienne.”

Arms crossed to her chest, she threw him a mulish glare. “Why not?”

Knowing better than to reply, Jaime sat back in silence, his mind now far away from the drama on TV. When the movie was approaching its close, he too, like the hero, was left thinking long and hard, sleepless and restless, dwelling upon what he wanted, what he really desired.

+++++

 _An affair to remember_ was slowly turning into an affair he wanted to be done with and retire to bed. It wasn’t the story nor was anything wrong with the movie, but Brienne’s tiresome running commentary with her expert criticism was beginning to get his frustration to a high. If she’d had her way, the movie would’ve ended soon after the first half.

“She’s underestimating him,” she fumed, clearly disapproving the heroine’s decision to keep her disability under wraps. “If she thinks he’s just going to abandon her because of her accident--”

“She has her insecurities, wench.”

“Well--” she continued to argue, her eyes flashing “--they could just talk to each other and sort it out. Communication--”

“--wasn’t this easy in those days.”

“There were phones--” she paused, presumably thinking of other options “--or she could’ve written to him, explaining her absence--”

“Yeah, but that’s not how the writer wanted this story to unfold.”

“There you are--” a smug triumphant smile, he was treated to “--that’s what I was trying to say. They could’ve wrapped it up in half the time if these two had the right conversation.”

+++++

 _When Harry Met Sally,_ Jaime met yet another side of Brienne’s argument.

“Of course a man and a woman can be friends without sex getting in the way,” she opined, as the story unfolded. “The best example is us--” ignoring the bickering going on between the characters, she shifted her full attention to him “--personality wise, we’re poles apart, we hardly agree with each other, we bite our heads off arguing most of the times, yet, we--”

“We--what?” Jaime couldn’t help butting in, his pulse picking up, craving an answer he knew he wasn’t likely to get.

“We’ve been inseparable for a while, always there for each other when it matters.” The movie was forgotten. “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, Jaime--”

“These two aren’t just friends, though--” He searched her eyes, hunting for a sign… something that might give him a hint. “They’re clearly in love with each other--”

“And yet neither of them can say it.” Her eyes were back on the screen, face souring in criticism. “Even after they’ve had sex. Mind you--” she turned to Jaime again “--while it might have been comfort sex--”

“It was--or rather--they _thought_ it was,” Jaime offered his perception. “This proves sex does get in the way, wench, and when it does, it messes up everything platonic. Getting back to where they were--”

“--wasn’t necessary anymore,” she pondered aloud, eyes off the screen and far away. “Their friendship turned into something much deeper. Only--” She was shaking her head in disapproval “--these two spend days doing nothing about their feelings. So much yearning and pining could’ve been avoided--”

“So you _do_ agree such a friendship can develop into something more?”

Her fingers aimlessly caressing the remote, her expression tightened. “Only in movies.”

+++++

_“I, Ross, take thee Rachel--”_

“See--” Brienne paused the scene “--see, he loves Rachel, yet he decides to go ahead and marry this Emily--”

“He--”

“Now don’t tell me he’s _confused_ ,” she attacked him before he could even begin. “Ross and Rachel have been the most tedious will-they won’t-they ever. And don’t even get me started on her--”

“She--”

“--is here because she loves him. Ten seasons, it took them to realize and get together when a simple--”

“I love you.”

It had come out before he could hold it in him, before he could apply his mind to respond to her, before he could find himself thinking through the depths of the night, pining away in the dark, wishing he’d said something to let her know how he felt. 

Fingers crossed underneath the cushion, he waited for her reaction to unfold, the longest wait he’d ever suffered.

“See, it’s that simple.” Her eyes lighting up, she went on to unfreeze the show. “That is all they should’ve said to each other.”

+++++

The Red Tent scene between the man of honour and the warrior lady who had named him that, was the most difficult he had to sit through. 

Every scene the two characters shared, every stepping stone to their budding relationship growing from enemies to friends to--something more, Jaime could relate to, for nothing bore more resemblance to his equation with Brienne than this memorable love story they settled down to watch for the nth time.

“I’ll never forgive the writers for not giving these two a happy ending,” she began ranting, eyes moistening, lips trembling. “A priceless sword, an armour--” her voice started to break “--why would you do all this for her if you didn’t--”

“--love her,” Jaime wholeheartedly agreed, bursting with the urge to come clean. “He loves her, Brienne--”

“And so does she,” Brienne gushed, sighing deeply when the knight, with all the love and affection he could pour into his voice, said, _‘It will always be yours.’_. “If it was too difficult to express his love in words, he could have just kissed her--”

And he did.

Jaime kissed her. No apprehensions to hold him back this time, no inhibitions drawing up walls of hesitation before him, no--nothing, except his bottled-up feelings for her, his ache to make it known, to touch her, to kiss her, his endless dreams of a life with her. It didn’t happen just in movies, he wanted to show her, that friendship could blossom into love in real life too.

He wasn’t Ross or Harry or this lovestruck knight who was his exact mirror-image. Unlike these heroes, romantic verses, he had not in him to recite, nor was he blessed with the skill to shower her with elaborately mushy proclamations of his feelings for her.

But unlike them, _this_ was for real.

When they gently broke the kiss, Jaime was free, at last, of the nagging uneasiness in his chest, of the uncertainty hounding him for days. Lost in her eyes, he cupped her cheek, his thumb teasing the corner of her mouth. “What do you think, Brienne?” 

“Very well said, indeed.” Her deep gaze, a sweet love poem, she shifted closer to kiss him again. “These show-runners ought to have sought your advice, Jaime. The knight and his lady deserved no less than a happy ending like ours.”


End file.
